11/6/19. 

Welcome to Steps for Success: Your NPIP Biosecurity 

Audit. 

CHRISLYN WOOD NICHOLSON: Hello, everyone, and 

thank you for joining the webinar. Today's presentation, Steps 

for Success: Your NPIP Biosecurity Audit, is part of the USDA 's 

Defend the Flock campaign, growing awareness about the 

importance of biosecurity and ways to prevent the spread of 

infectious poultry diseases. We are here today to support you 

and your flocks with expanded biosecurity resources. 

I'm Doctor Chrislyn Wood Nicholson with the USDA. Today 

I'm joined by my USDA colleague, Doctor Elena Behnke, senior 

veterinary coordinator for the National Poultry Improvement Plan; 

Doctor Julie Helm of Clemson University, and Doctor Kristi Scott 

of ISE America.

Before we get started, we want to let you know closed 

captions are available for this program. For anyone who wishes 

to view the real-time streaming captions, type the caption URL 

that you see on the screen, bit.ly/USDAwebinarcaptions into your 

browser. The URL appears at the bottom of every slide so you 

can link to captions at any time during the program. Please note 

that the URL is case sensitive.

We will take a few minutes to introduce ourselves: I'm 

Chrislyn Wood Nicholson, and I have worked with USDA 
veterinary services for the past 15 years as a poultry specialist, 

veterinary medical officer. Mainly I work with the Low 

Pathogenic Avian Influenza surveillance program in District One 

on the east coast. I communicate with both large and small 

producers and other stakeholders about biosecurity and disease 

prevention on a regular basis. I also serve as an NPIP and 

compartmentalization auditor and work with Dr. Elena Behnke 

and primary breeder companies conducting biosecurity audits. I 

have responded to many low path avian influenza incidents on the 

east coast and the highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreak in 

2014/2015 as a case manager and biosecurity specialist.

Doctor Behnke, please tell us a little bit about yourself.

>> Yes, thanks, Chrislyn. I currently serve as the senior 

coordinator of the National Poultry Improvement Plan. One of 

my roles is to guide our official state agents like Doctor Julie Helm 

to manage the NPIP program in their individual states. 

Nationwide and in Puerto Rico, the NPIP has participants that 

represent around 7.7 billion birds and offers testing programs for

different types of poultry breeders and commercial poultry.

The program for today's focus centers on biosecurity. And 

prior to my time at NPIP, I worked in different companies within 

the poultry industry as a veterinarian in charge of biosecurity 

programs for several thousand birds. As senior coordinator I 

draw on these experiences to help states assist their companies 
with program implementation, I'm glad to be here today.

CHRISLYN WOOD NICHOLSON: Thank you, Doctor 

Behnke. 

Doctor Helm, thank you for joining us from Clemson 

University. Please tell us about your background and your work 

in the State of South Carolina.

JULIE HELM: Thank you, Chrislyn. This is Julie Helm, and 

I'm a poultry veterinarian for Clemson Livestock Poultry Health 

known in the state as the Biosecurity Queen, but I'm actually the 

NPIP official state agent, or OSA, for South Carolina. I have 

coordinated the NPIP program for 23 years. I'm happy to join 

you today along with the APHIS team.

CHRISLYN WOOD NICHOLSON: Thank you, Doctor Helm. 

And Doctor Scott, thank you for participating. Please tell us 

about yourself and your role at ISE America.

KRISTIN SCOTT: Thank you, Chrislyn, my name is Kristi 

Scott, I'm a production poultry veterinarian for ISE America, which 

is a commercial table egg layer company. In several states I 

oversee the health and welfare of approximately 6 million layer 

chickens. Prior to this I worked for a broiler company, and then a 

turkey company. I have been in my current position for 

approximately 17 years, and I'm happy to be with y'all today. 

Back to you, Chrislyn.

CHRISLYN WOOD NICHOLSON: Thank you, Doctor Scott. 
Our goal today is to provide information about the status of the 

NPIP ruling and provide information for flock owners who will be 

required to participate in NPIP audits. We will cover an overview 

of NPIP audit requirements, preparing, reviewing, and revising 

biosecurity plans, and USDA resources.

Please feel free to submit questions by clicking the Q&A 

button located at the bottom of your screen. APHIS and our 

guest veterinarians will answer all questions after the webinar has 

concluded. The Q&A will be posted along with the recording of 

this webinar on the APHIS website.

Be sure to follow the Defend the Flock campaign on 

Facebook and Twitter to find out when the Q&A and recording are 

available. We will share those on-line discussions at the end of 

the webinar.

Doctor Behnke, will you start us off with a review of NPIP?

>> Yes, I will be happy to. The NPIP is a voluntary 

cooperative program through which state, federal, and industry 

officials work together to approve and use new diagnostic 

technology for poultry improvement in the country. The NPIP 

provisions and program standards contain the rules for 

participation, and biosecurity is an integral part of the 

requirement. In fact, standard C in the program standards is 

devoted entirely to sanitation, with special attention to house 

design and construction, equipment and vehicle cleaning and 
disinfection, and hatching egg sanitation.

NPIP participants can earn certifications by following 

biosecurity standards and by monitoring and testing their flocks 

which demonstrates freedom from diseases. Classifications like 

pullorum typhoid clean and H5/H7 avian influenza monitored are 

important for both domestic and international trade recognition.

Currently the NPIP has official certifications in three disease 

categories: Salmonella, mycoplasma, and avian influenza.

Now, NPIP programs for avian influenza are surveillance 

based for low pathogenic avian influenza, however, highly 

pathogenic avian influenza is considered a foreign animal 

disease. In fact, the devastating highly pathogenic avian 

influenza incident in 2014 through 2015 that was concentrated in 

the upper Midwest was the most expensive animal health incident 

recorded in US history at almost a billion dollars spent in 

response to indemnity activities alone. The HPAI interim rule on 

indemnity payments went into effect in February 2016 in response 

to that costly incident. The final rule was published by the USDA 

in the fall of 2018. The NPIP 14 biosecurity principles in essence 

provide a framework for producers to successfully meet these 

new indemnity eligibility requirements specified by the rule. 

Epidemiologic analysis reports from the HPAI event in the 

Midwest has identified certain risks factors that contributed 

significantly to the spread of the virus. The NPIP 14 security 
principles were developed with these risk factors in mind with 

extensive input from all segments of the poultry industry, including 

large and small private companies, researchers, states, and the 

federal government.

The thought process was that by incorporating these 14 

points, future viral spread could be halted more quickly. 

Furthermore, the groups wanted to ensure that indemnity monies 

were not awarded to complexes in which biosecurity was deficient 

or absent.

Participation in and compliance with the 14 biosecurity 

principles allows companies and their growers to follow a general 

consensus guideline that demonstrates substantial effort to 

control diseases. Simultaneously, the program allows flexibility 

to fit various types of operations. A benefit for participation is 

that having a solid biosecurity plan helps control other diseases 

besides just avian influenza. For producers that meet certain 

size requirements to be eligible for indemnity, biosecurity plans 

must address all 14 of these principles. And those size 

requirements are listed here. 

For example, layer flock participants need to raise more than 

75,000 birds in a year to be subject to the final rule. Remember, 

participation is voluntary. I mentioned in the previous slide that 

one advantage of complying with the 14 biosecurity principles is 

generalized disease control. Another advantage is that, should 
your operation be unfortunate enough to experience a high path 

event, your company would now be eligible to receive money for 

indemnity. You may notice that certain smaller operations are 

exempt from participation, which is similar to the low pathogenic 

avian influenza program in the NPIP. Smaller operations may 

still find considerable value in getting involved, however, and 

these small flock owners may still be eligible for indemnification. 

This timeline shows in detail that the high path interim rule 

became effective in 2016, which was later adopted and published 

as a final rule in August of 2018, with an effective date of 

September 14, 2018. 

To give you a greater appreciation for the 14 points, the 

development stages took about a year from the middle of 2015 to 

around the middle of 2016, and the final version passed with a 

unanimous vote from all sectors of the poultry industry at the 

NPIP's 42nd Biennial conference in Washington State in 

September of 2016. A corresponding audit tool was developed 

over the course of the next nine months, again, with widespread 

input from the poultry industry and from states. The NPIP 

trained states on the implementation of the 14 points in May, 

2017. Ever since, states have been working with their 

companies and growers to ensure compliance.

The expectation is that all eligible parties wishing to be 

considered for high path avian influenza indemnity will comply no 
later than September of 2020, which offers a two-year grace 

period from the date the final rule became effective. The 14 

biosecurity principles are incorporated into the NPIP's program 

standards, standard E, which can be found on the NPIP website 

at WWW.poultryimprovement.org. Now I will turn it back to you, 

Chrislyn.

>> Thanks, Doctor Behnke, great summary. Now I'm going 

to turn the presentation over to Doctor Helm and Doctor Scott for 

discussion of biosecurity plans and preparing for the NPIP audit.

>> Thank you Chrislyn, this is Julie, and I will be covering the 

list of the NPIP 14 biosecurity principles. As mentioned, the 

poultry industry supports these principles and has taken 

ownership in developing the very best biosecurity programs for 

their operations. The first 13 principles on the list were identified 

because they represent the greatest risk factors for transmission 

of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza between the farm. These 

13 principles are also the components being included in your 

biosecurity program and will be audited by looking at your 

biosecurity plan and how you implement your program. These 

include biosecurity responsibility, training, Line of Separation, 

Perimeter Buffer Area, personnel, wild birds, rodents and insects, 

equipment and vehicles, mortality disposal, manure and litter 

management, replacement poultry, water supply, feed and 

replacement litter, reporting morbidity, the number of sick or 
affected birds, and mortality, the number of dead birds, and 

finally, auditing. 

Once again, the expectation is that all NPIP participants will 

be in compliance by September of 2020. You may be able to do 

a mock audit with your own official state agent, and we 

recommend that you reach out to them to inquire about this 

opportunity. 

So, what is the NPIP biosecurity audit? This is a desk or 

paper based audit performed in the office and not on the farm. 

The audit checks that you are in compliance with your biosecurity 

plan. It may find areas that you need to improve on. Passing 

this audit is required to be eligible to receive indemnity or money 

for the market value of your birds who died from a high path AI 

infection. 

Kristi and I are going to discuss how we would perform the 

audit South Carolina, using Kristi's egg laying company as an 

example. Kristi also has facilities in other locations, and she will 

be giving examples of how it might be handled in other states with 

different farm situations. Some of the examples we are given 

may not apply to you exactly, but most are similar for egg layers, 

broilers, and turkeys. 

So, some pro tips for a smooth audit. Who needs to be 

there? When I show up for an audit, this is who I expect to be 

there: At a minimum, the biosecurity coordinator needs to be 
there. In South Carolina, I'm choosing to do my audits in person 

with each company, but this is not required. Other states may 

perform this audit through e-mail, mail, and discussions over the 

phone. Kristi, who is your biosecurity coordinator, and how do 

you organize this for your companies located in several states?

>> In my program, I'm the biosecurity coordinator. But with 

having multiple states, what I have done in my plan is I have 

named myself as the biosecurity coordinator overseer, and then I 

have individuals that are located in all the other states as the 

individual biosecurity coordinators for those locations.

And besides the coordinator, there may be other personnel 

and caretakers involved during the audit who also help implement 

the biosecurity program.

>> What records are needed? The records you should 

gather to have available for the audit include your biosecurity plan 

and any other documents or records that support the 

implementation of your plan. Remember, we are not going out to 

the farms to see this in action. 

Kristi will give examples of documents and records as we go 

through each of the different principles. Principle one is 

biosecurity responsibility. The biosecurity coordinator is 

responsible for the development, implementation, maintenance, 

and ongoing effectiveness of the biosecurity program on the farm, 

production site, production complex, or at the company level, 
depending on the type of operation and how you write it within 

your plan. The biosecurity coordinator must be knowledgeable 

in the principles of biosecurity, must be responsible for 

implementation of the biosecurity program with personnel and 

caretakers, and must review the biosecurity program at least once 

per the calendar year, and revise the plan as necessary. Kristi, 

as the biosecurity coordinator, what are your key areas in your 

plan?

>> A biosecurity plan needs to be site specific, and I define in 

my plan what site specific means. It can either be at the farm 

level or complex wide containing several different premises. I 

have a master biosecurity plan that is the same for all of my 

facilities in all my states, then the supporting documents are used 

and are unique to the location. And every location has its own 

risk level that needs to be taken into account. For example, 

there's a higher risk with migratory birds in the northeastern farms 

as compared to my South Carolina farms. Unique to the farm is 

the records and how those records will be used, kept, and stored 

either electronic or paper. But they should be maintained for at 

least three years. And as you will see, everything goes back to 

training. 

All 13 principles relate back to training in one way or another. 

But most importantly, for writing a plan and passing an audit is not 

to write what you think the auditor wants to hear, but to say what 
you do and do what you say. 

Principle 2 is training. The training materials need to include 

farm site specific procedures as well as company or complex wide 

procedures. Documentation is needed that all the poultry 

owners or caretakers who enter the Perimeter Buffer Area, and 

that’s the outer area of the farm site, have completed biosecurity 

training at least one time per calendar year. This also includes 

new poultry caretakers that are trained at hire. 

Kristi, what type of records would you show me for this?

>> I would show you training logs where the poultry 

caretakers, which includes my contract growers and my company 

employees, have attended and signed off on a training session on 

biosecurity. I would also have what topics were included in the 

training attached to the training log. This training is also part of 

our new hire package where the new employees sign off on the 

policies, and we then keep a copy of this in their personnel file.

Principles three, four, and five are about the Line of 

Separation, the Perimeter Buffer Area, and personnel. In 

principle 3, I have to either describe or illustrate the boundaries of 

the Line of Separation or the LOS around my farm. I choose to 

do this with an illustration within my farm specific plan. In this 

picture, the blue lines shows the boundaries of the LOS. This 

blue line follows the outside walls of the chicken house and the 

egg conveyer belt between the houses. The same idea is true 
for principle 4, the Perimeter Buffer Area or PBA, which I think of 

as the functional working area around the farm. I illustrate the 

PBA boundary with a red line. The PBA can get modified when 

birds move in and out and manure moves out and some other 

situations.

>> There are also procedures that are clearly laid out in your 

plan for caretakers, visitors or suppliers, crossing the line of 

separation or the Perimeter Buffer Area. 

Kristi, what can you show me to prove this is being done?

>> I would give you our procedures on our Danish entry and 

how we enter the bird houses.

>> What do you mean by Danish entry? Can you give an 

example of that?

>> In our Danish entry procedures, it would be on how to 

enter the houses. So when entering, you would enter through a 

designated door into a dirty zone, sit on a bench, and either 

remove your outside shoes or put on shoe covers, taking caution 

not to place your feet back on to the floor of the dirty zone. You 

would swing your legs over and stand in a clean zone if you are 

using shoe covers. If you are using farm designated shoes, then 

you would walk in socks over to get those shoes, and put them 

on. And then you would put on your coveralls or your company 

issued coveralls or farm clothing, and then put on a hair net or 

farm dedicated hat or bandanna. You would sanitize your hands 
and anything else that you are going to be bringing into the barn, 

like any tools or phone or scissors, or anything like that. You 

would enter the barn after stepping through any designated foot 

baths. When you are exiting, you would also follow these same 

kind of procedures by exiting into a clean area, remove your 

coveralls. You are going to throw away anything that's 

disposable, and then put anything that can be put into a laundry 

bin or stored for later use, like a hat or bandanna, in a cubby that 

is to be used later. You are going to walk over to a bench and 

swing your legs over after you've taken off those show covers, 

and leave them on the clean side.

You are going to walk over to the outside, sanitize your 

hands, and any equipment that was brought into the barn. I then 

also show you the training that we have done for the people that 

have to go through this Danish entry.

Principle 5 is details about biosecurity procedures and 

personal protective equipment, or PPE, for site dedicated 

personnel and non-farm personnel and give an example of that in 

your Danish entry. It also includes what procedures are to be 

done if personnel have had exposure to other poultry and avian 

species in order for them to reenter the Perimeter Buffer Area. 

How do you handle this?

>> I would give you our visitor log, and that includes the 

visitor's name, the visit date, who they are there to see, and a 
statement that if they had exposure to any birds within the last 48 

hours, they are to report it to the person they are visiting so that 

we could stop them from going into our area with poultry. I 

would also show you in our plan the policy for personal protective 

equipment we use to enter the perimeter buffer area for our 

visitors and our employees.

>> Principle 6 is asking about pets. What control measures 

do you have to for wild birds, rodents, and insects in your 

biosecurity program?

>> With pest control, I would go through our policy, 

procedure, and proof. Our policy would be in our biosecurity 

plan of how we are going to handle pest control in general. And 

then our procedure would be the details of how we are going to 

monitor and control for the pests. For example, we would have a 

written procedure of how frequently our bait stations are checked, 

what they are baited with, as well as where the bait stations are 

located. Our proof would then be the records of monitoring for 

these pests at the farm level. For example, our walking fly tape 

record, bait station monitoring record, pesticide usage log, and 

then training, of course, on how to properly monitor for these 

pests.

>> Principle 7 is about equipment and vehicles. What 

records can you show me that you are performing cleaning and 

disinfection or restricting the sharing of equipment and vehicles? 
>> I would show you our written procedures for equipment 

and vehicles moving between farms. Our policy says that the 

movement of equipment from poultry farm to poultry farm should 

be limited. But if equipment or vehicles must be moved, then we 

have specific instructions to follow. This procedure talks about 

the difference between equipment that has entered a poultry barn 

and equipment that has entered the farm but has not entered the 

barn. I would also show you past training records where this 

topic has been covered. My plan also includes how cleaning and 

disinfection may be intensified during these disease threats.

>> Principle 8 is asking about your mortality disposal plan. 

How would you show me that you are properly removing storing 

bird mortality, and what kind of pest control there is around the 

storage and disposal areas?

>> Each state is different on how mortality disposal is 

handled. I would give you the farm specific mortality plan that 

includes mortality management. One site might have deep pit 

burial and another would have composting mortality within the 

manure. But what they have in common is a written plan of 

how to handle the mortality. Rodent records around the disposal 

site would be bait station monitoring and pesticide usage logs.

>> Principle nine is asking how your procedures in handling 

manure and spent litter that limits the spread of infectious 

disease.
>> Most states have rules governing transportation and 

application of manure. We are following these rules, for 

example, having trailers covered when hauling manure. We 

would prove that we are following the rule by providing our 

training of these laws.

>> Principle 10 is about replacement poultry. Kristi, what 

supporting documentation do you have showing that your 

replacement poultry are sourced from flocks, that are in 

compliance with NPIP guidelines, and that transportation vehicles 

are cleaned, disinfected and inspected, and what protocols do 

you have in place for equipment and personnel involved in 

transportation?

>> I have the NPIP movement forms, VS9-3, that show my 

chicks come from NPIP breeder flocks, and that my out of state 

pullets come from appropriately tested flocks. For in-state 

movement, I have disease testing documents. I also have letters 

of guaranty from the live haul company that the transport vehicles 

will be cleaned and disinfected prior to move. When birds are 

moved, our service person visually inspects that transport vehicle 

and documents that on an animal welfare form that I can show 

you.

>> Principle eleven applies to water used for drinking, 

evaporative cooling, and cleaning surfaces. Kristi, where do you 

source your water from? 
>> That's easy. Our water is from deep wells on all our 

farms, and that is stated as a requirement in our plan. And yes, 

that is a simple answer to this question, if your water is from a 

contained supply, such as a well or municipal system. However, 

if your drinking or evaporative water comes from a surface water 

source, then I would be looking for water treatment records. For 

surface water being used to clean or flush other surfaces, I would 

need to see our records showing subsequent disinfection after 

this is employed.

>> Principle 12 is about feed and replacement litter and how it 

is stored and maintained to limit exposure to wild birds, rodents, 

insects, and other animals. Kristi, do you use litter and have 

litter storage in your table egg facility?

>> Believe it or not, in our cage free sites we do use a small 

amount of litter. In our program we have litter delivered in bags 

directly into the house so there's no need to store it. I 

understand this would be completely different for other types of 

poultry operations such as broiler and turkey farms. For other 

companies who use litter, I would be asking for their procedures 

and documents on how they performed it. 

>> For your feed, how would you show me that you were 

storing feed in a manner that limits contamination by wild birds, 

insects, and other animals? And how do you address feed spills 

outside the line of separation but within the Perimeter Buffer 
Area?

>> I would show you in our program that we have a 

procedure for the feed bin lids to be closed after the feed is 

delivered. In the same program, feed spills are addressed, and 

they are to be cleaned up in a timely manner. The weekly 

service report looks for feed spills and other feed bin lids, I would 

be showing you that as well. I could also show you training 

records where this topic was covered.

>> Principle 13 is about reporting elevated morbidity and 

mortality. Kristi, what type of records would you show me that 

you would know your morbidity or mortality is above expected 

levels, and how would you report this to responsible authorities, 

and how take actions should you suspect a reportable disease 

agent? 

>> Every day mortality is reported on the farm. Within our 

company we have a critical alert communication system that 

notifies certain people within the company if there's a problem 

such as an increase in mortality, I'm one of the people that is 

notified if there is an increase in the number of sick birds or if 

mortality increases. As a veterinarian, I determine if samples or 

birds need to move on to the diagnostic lab for testing. In one of 

my programs, I have a list of the different state agencies that 

would need to be contacted in the event of a suspected reportable 

disease.
>> Principle 14 is the audit itself. Auditing is based on flock 

sizes or the total number of birds raised in a year as shown in the 

earlier slides. This paper based assessment audit would be 

performed at least every two years or a sufficient number of times 

during that period by the State NPIP OSA to ensure that the 

participant is in compliance. Julie, what happens if I fail my 

document audit with you?

>> Well, then you can request to have a check audit 

performed by a team on appointed by the national NPIP office 

which would include myself as a state OSA, an APHIS poultry 

subject matter expert, and a licensed accredited poultry 

veterinarian familiar with your type of operation. And let's hope 

that doesn't happen. It should not happen if all the 13 principles 

that we covered are included in your biosecurity program on your 

farm, that it's written clearly in your plan and documented as 

being performed. And once again, as Kristi has said, say what 

you do, and do what you say, which is very critical for plans and 

auditing. Kristi and I hope these examples were helpful to you 

as you prepare for your audit. Chrislyn, we turn that back over to 

you.

>> Excellent information. Thank you, Doctor Helm and 

Doctor Scott. I'll conclude our presentation with an overview of 

the resources available through USDA APHIS that can help 

enhance biosecurity practices at your site and support your 
preparations for the NPIP audit. APHIS veterinary services is 

developing a library of checklists that provide practical tips and 

recommendations to support each of the 14 NPIP principles. We 

encourage you to visit the Defend the Flock website to view and 

download the checklists and incorporate in your training 

programs. All of the checklists are available in multiple 

languages including Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Tagalog. 

Recent additions such as the checklist covering the role of the 

biosecurity coordinator and training will be especially helpful for 

the NPIP audits. New checklists will continue to be added 

throughout the year. The Defend the Flock website has many 

other free tools including videos, recordings of prior webinars, and 

graphics for social media that can help you promote biosecurity 

on your site and to your stakeholders, no matter the size of are 

flock. All of the USDA APHIS Defend the Flock materials can be 

found on the campaign website at the bottom of the slide. 

Aphis.usda.gov/animalhealth/defendtheflock. You can also find 

additional information about the National Poultry Improvement 

Plan at poultryimprovement.org. Be sure to check out more 

helpful information on our social media channels. This 

presentation along with the answers to your questions will be 

available for download from the Defend the Flock website shortly. 

Be sure to follow Defend the Flock on Facebook and Twitter to be 

notified when this presentation is available.
And use the hash tag Defend the Flock when sharing or 

posting information to help us spread the word. And before we 

go, on behalf of my APHIS co-hosts, Doctor Elena Behnke, 

Doctor Julie Helm, and Doctor Kristi Scott for sharing your 

valuable insights and knowledge with us today, and thank all of 

you for joining us on this webinar. And let's keep our poultry 

healthy together.